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Thursday, January 12, 2017

Fixing Raffe - again

Last year I attempted to fix Raffe's neck which had a seriously hard time standing upright. It did not help that kittens really enjoyed climbing up his neck. Even after 'surgery', it fell over again pretty quickly.

I attempted to fix him by simply pulling his head up, but the support structure started poking out through him

I figured that thin wire was not going to be enough to support the weight of kittens who love climbing up Raffe's neck. I went to the home improvement store to get some PVC pipe. My husband picked up a piece but it was a bit curved so he asked if I wanted a different piece and I looked up and saw a piece that "spoke to me" and asked him to get that one instead. We joked around a bit and I said he told me his name was Jim (when he spoke to me) and then we had a fun time sticking Jim in the truck because the piece was longer than the truck bed.

Apparently, The Crew thought I said gym because they had fun knocking it on the couch and then playing limbo.

I could have gotten a smaller piece, but I wasn't sure how far down I would be able to get into Raffe's leg, so having the full length would give me multiple options. I cut open a larger section this time and pulled out the original wire support. I as hoping to be able to manipulate the inner structure for his legs to get him standing with all four feet on the ground, but I couldn't seem to be able to do that. I wasn't sure how good he would look if I had one straight line from his head to his toe, so I decided to start with a smaller piece that went from his head to the bottom of his chest cavity. It took some manipulating to get it in there, so I'm hopeful that it will do what I want it to. If this doesn't work, I have more of Jim so that I can attempt to rework the whole thing again.

Sewing it back up was a bit more work this time, but with more dental floss and some persistence I as able to get it together.

Looks like Raffe will be with us for another kitten season, and hopefully many more.

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Mittens has become "Rupert". I was contacted by a local woman who wants to adopt him when he becomes healthy enough, and that was the name she picked out for him. I will admit I was becoming quite partial to Mozart and Einstein, but Rupert is a lovely name.

When he showed up I offered him a small bit of raw food which he inhaled and asked for more. I went and got him some more and he ate very little of it. I gave him a can of food that they sent home with him, and he took two bites of that and stopped. He left the shelter at 1lb 4 oz. When I went to bed he was 1lb 6. I was very optimistic.

In the morning he was 1lb 5. I opened more food, brought down more raw and he nibbled at it but didn't eat much. I hoped that he was just distracted with my being there and he'd eat during the day. He had some, but not a lot and was still 1lb 5 when I got home.

He is drinking a considerable amount of water for his size, and he peed several times during the day. He pooped once, right after he showed up and the stool was well formed. I had hoped that his whiskers were causing him stress since they were getting in his food and thus in his mouth when he ate. I trimmed them last night and that did not seem to help. I wasn't comfortable giving him a bath in that condition. I'm hoping tomorrow is better. That photo is prewhisker trim when I was trying to just smooth them back in hopes that they would stay and I wouldn't have to trim them. He looks adorable with 'regular' eyebrow whiskers now and I know that they will grow back again.